rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Dec 15, 2012 21:26:49 GMT
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Post by lambethgull on Dec 16, 2012 12:45:52 GMT
No surprise really, and a club that goes through as many managers as they have needs to be asking questions of themselves rather than the next fall guy they install as manager.
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Dec 16, 2012 18:09:34 GMT
I always thought Paul Buckle was very brave to leave such a safe job at our club for the Rovers one. But then I'm sure he fully believed he was good enough and maybe if he had been given more time, would have proved that.
I'm sure any Rovers manager is going to have far more money to spend on his team than any Torquay United one and it just goes to prove that getting the right results is down to far more than the money you have to spend on your team.
It makes any achievements at our club even more incredible and the reason we should never let our expectations run away with us. We can all try and play at being football managers but is it a job anyone of us would really want?
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petef
Match Room Manager
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Post by petef on Dec 16, 2012 19:01:12 GMT
Its not so difficult to get in a mess such as this. We all know just how easy it is to slip into decline and free fall.
Getting back some stability and consistency is the tough task here and Rovers have one trump card remaining and have decided for better or worse to play . Signing the likes of the now elderly Guy Branston smacks of desperation at least the new manager will have the January window to take his and the club directors last gambles.
Fans are impatient with unrealistic expectations. The danger is when the boards and chairmen get swept along with it.
I would hazard a guess that if they had stuck with Buckle they wouldn't be in this mess. The grass is always greener so the saying goes.
There are some big clubs in the Conference these days most struggling to get out for more than a couple of seasons and some who have slipped out altogether.
Chapter one. Darlington FC build a huge ground for the "future" and fall into the Conference, into debt, bankruptcy and virtual non existence.
Chapter two. Bristol Rovers site new plans for a new 22,000 capacity stadium for the future and are bottom of the football league at the half way point of the 12/13 season. The 4/5000 regular fans are overjoyed just as the Darlo fans were at this grand plan but are up in arms at their league plight with many drifting away.
Is history going to repeat itself?
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Post by bristolgull on Dec 16, 2012 19:48:28 GMT
Now living in bristol, I know a fair few rovers fans and most believe that their plight goes beyond an unsuccessful manager and underperforming squad. They've gone through managers at a rate of knotts recently and I expect buckle regrets taking the job when he did. I look on to their forum occasionally, both last season and this and the amount of vitriol levelled at players and especially buckle last season is staggering. Anybody who takes the rovers job has certainly got their work cut out...
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rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Dec 16, 2012 20:14:44 GMT
Yep, I think their problems go back to the sacking of Paul Trollope who was in post for five years from 2005 to 2010, getting them promoted via the play offs and then stabilizing them in league 1 for a couple of seasons including a FA Cup quarter final appearance. OK, he had a poor start in 2010 that led to his sacking but did his record merit him getting sacked in what looks like a very poor and expensive short term decision. I think it takes time to build a squad and get them performing in a certain style at the right level where they gel together. Ling inherited the core of a play off squad but took a third of a season to get things going and that was with a fair slice of luck on the injury front. Buckle inherited a relegated squad and went for a completely new approach and although his team looked good on paper, had some injury concerns and was under pressure almost from the word go. His replacement, once again got his own team together jettisoning some proven players such as Zebroski who is doing the business now at promotion chasing Cheltenham, a luxury that Torquay don't have and something that may have helped Ling get a relatively good start as he has to work with what he has got thereby giving a degree of consistency at our club.  |
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JamesB
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Post by JamesB on Dec 17, 2012 1:46:14 GMT
The problem wasn't necessarily losing Trollope but Lennie Lawrence who had been director of football and was making a lot of the decisions. By Trollope's last year, when everything went catastrophically wrong, Lawrence had already gone (and is now doing rather well for himself alongside Freedman at Bolton)
I should imagine they'll appoint another big name on big money to try and turn it around again - Dowie or Reid, someone of that ilk
Incidentally, I seem to remember a lot of the money for the new stadium was being put up by the University of the West of England, who were meant to be title-sponsoring it - I think it's also within the campus of the university. Bristol RFC would most likely be going there too, although there's a chance they could use Bristol City's old/new stadium (whichever's available by then) as the owner of Bristol RFC is the majority shareholder of Bristol City and funding the new stadium
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JamesB
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Post by JamesB on Dec 17, 2012 16:14:14 GMT
John Ward's been appointed, Rovers snatching him away from Argyle who were about to appoint him as Director of Football. Ouch
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